Saturday, 24 December 2011

In one corner was Joseph and the Wise Men laughing and
joking, celebrating Jesus birth with a pint.In the other corner was Mary saying to one of the shepherds, "The
real joke is - he's not even the father!"

When I have told other people about this card, their
reactions have been divided.Some found
it funny, some were uncomfortable with it, fearing that it was irreverent or sacrilegious.

But like the hit TV show 'Rev' the humour contains a deep
theological truth.According to the
Gospels, Joseph was not Jesus' father - God was.

As we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the eternal
Son of God coming to be born as one of us, a human being in our human world,
with nothing special to attract us to him.He was born in poverty not in a palace.He was born obscurity, not in celebrity.He was born not in majesty but in the ordinary, to bring the
extra-ordinary into our lives.He was
born in the disgrace of an illegitimate birth to bring the grace of God into our lives.

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

I have to confess to being slightly surprised at the recent
Church of England announcement that the Bishop
of Sodor and Man has been appointed to chair the review of Civil
Partnerships.

It’s not that there is anything wrong with Bishop Robert
Paterson.I am sure that he is a fair
and open person with a wealth of experience that can be
brought to bear on the issues that the church needs to face.

My surprise came from the part of the UK where he servesas Bishop – The Isle of Man.

The diocese of Sodor and Man is the smallest in the Church of
England, covering the 28 parishes of this beautiful island in the Irish
Sea.I first became aware of it when
researching the implications of a proposed Clergy Discipline Measure on
Doctrine.The measure would have enabled
doctrinal complaints to be made against clergy and bishops, initiating a kind
of Spanish Inquisition to investigate alleged doctrinal impurity!Under the terms of the proposed legislation,
I discovered that a mere 10 people in the Isle of Man Synod could force a
formal disciplinary investigation into the beliefs and practise of the
Archbishop of Canterbury or York with all the ramifications that such formal
proceedings entail! Thankfully, I was
part of a group of clergy in General Synod who succeeded in getting the
legislation thrown out, and to this day it has not returned.

But it is the reputation of the Isle of Man that raised my
eyebrows when I learned that their Bishop would chair the review into Civil
Partnerships, because historically, the Isle of Man is famous for 3 things –
liberal tax laws, motorbike racing, and homophobia.

Armed with its own parliament and legal system, it was the
last part of the British Isles to de-criminalise same sex acts in 1992 – a full
25 years after the mainland.Its
attitudes were so well known that actress Emma
Thompson famously joked that it was a place that ‘stones gays’ – although
she got it wrong and accused the Isle of Wight instead!When Civil Partnerships were introduced in
the UK, the Isle of Man stood out against them, only changing its mind amidst
much controversy in April of this year.

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Douglas harbour

Then there are the jokes (which date from pre 1992) about
homosexuality being illegal which is ironic when you can only get there by
entering Douglas – jokes which are still repeated today.And finally there was a friend of mine who
misheard when I said that the review of Civil Partnerships would be led by the
Bishop of Sodor and Man – he thought I said the ‘Bishop of Sodomy’!

So was this a wise choice on the part of the House of
Bishops?Surely it would have been
better to choose a bishop from a more neutral diocese, or at least one without
the antigay reputation of the Isle of Man?

But then again, perhaps there is more than a little wisdom in
this choice – after all, the Isle of Man has a lot in common with the Church of
England.

Both represent relatively small communities in the UK,
enshrined in historic law, each with their own law making bodies.Both are instinctively conservative in
outlook and slow to embrace change.Both
have sections of their communities who would much prefer to pull up the
drawbridge and keep themselves to themselves, rather than deal with the
realities of a changing world.

And yet the Isle of Man has found a way to embrace change in
the area of sexuality.Despite its
history and the internal controversies which Civil Partnerships has brought, it
has found a way to move forward and embrace new understandings and new ways of
living.Despite its cultural instincts,
it has and is making changes.

Perhaps there is a parable here for the Church of
England.Perhaps its leaders and its
parliament can show the House of Bishops and the General Synod how to embrace a
more open approach to people of all sexualities.Perhaps they can show us that when change
comes, the sky does not fall in as a result.

So perhaps the Bishop of Sodor and Man is exactly the right
person to chair the Church of England’s Civil Partnership review – and many
same-sex couples in the Church of England will certainly be hoping he is.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

One of the things I struggle with sometimes is finding
positive things to say about the church.All too often it is the negative stories which make an impression on me
and prompt me to write - and the church is a rich source for such stories!

But tonight on Radio 4 I heard not one, but two good news
stories coming from very different parts of the Christian church.So this blog post is a celebration of these
good news stories - after all, that is what the word 'Gospel' is supposed to be
about.

After the disastrous
start which St Paul's made in responding to the Occupy London protest, the
Bishop of London has retaken much of the lost ground by bringing together members
of the protest with powerful players in the City.The tent is pitched at St Ethelburga's Church
which is now a centre of reconciliation and peace after being devastated by an
IRA bomb in the 1990's. And the meeting was arranged by Ken Costa, an
accomplished investment banker and committed Christian.

At last the established church is playing the part which it
alone can perform - bringing together establishment and ordinary people to
discuss real issues.If there is a path
to be found which addresses the concerns of protesters, economists and
financiers, it will be this kind of dialogue which creates the seeds of change.

Previously all such clothes were destroyed or buried in
land-fill sites, but now His Church is using sewing machines (which were also
confiscated from counterfeiters) to re-label thesefake Armani, Gucci, and D&G clothes (to name but a few) and
distribute them for free to homeless centres and women's shelters.The clothes are high quality and new, not
second hand - and they are given as gifts, not charity.

The clothes are relabelled with the 'HIS' logo as a reminder
that ultimately everything belongs to God
- everything is His.(This would also be
a useful reminder to those who make the wheels of the City go round).

So today I celebrate two news stories which show the church
doing what we should be doing - bringing people together, challenging those in
power, redeeming that which was lost, and clothing the poor.

Thursday, 1 December 2011

On Monday 5th December the law which prohibits Civil
Partnerships being registered in religious buildings ceases to be.

Following an amendment to the Equalities Act in the House of
Lords, the Government has now relaxed the rules and churches will soon be able
to apply to offer Civil Partnerships.

The Government has been careful not to force churches or
denominations to conduct Civil Partnerships and has produced 'opt in'
legislation which leave it entirely up to churches to decide if they want to
apply.

This both extends equalities legislation and preserves
religious freedom of belief.

But the Church of England is not being so even handed in its
response.All Anglican churches will
need to get permission from the Church of England's governing body to be
registered.The CofE has told the
Government that the relevant governing body is General Synod.So far this seems reasonable until we learn that the
Church of England has no plans to ask General Synod if it would grant such
permission or not.In the absence of
such a vote, the answer will remain 'No'.

"an application for the approval of a church or chapel
of the Church of England cannot be validly made unless the application is
accompanied by the consent in writing of the General Synod. That means that it
will not be legally possible for any church or chapel of the Church of England
(irrespective of who owns or controls the building in question) to become
approved premises for the registration of civil partnerships without the
consent of the Church of England as a whole expressed by way of a resolution of
the General Synod. In the absence of
such a resolution the Synod would not have given its consent for the purpose of
the regulations."

And that
goes with the recent statement from a spokesperson
at Church House who told the press that "The Church of England
has no intention of allowing Civil Partnerships to be registered in its
churches."

So that's that then.If
Synod isn't asked - then Synod can't say 'yes' - so the easiest way of avoiding
the whole issue is 'Don't ask'.

This is, of course an interesting variation on the 'Don't ask - don't tell'policy which has kept gay and lesbian priests
quiet for years.Under this unofficial policy,
gay priests have been allowed to continue in ministry as long as they haven't
put their Bishops in a 'difficult position' by being honest with them.

Now we have a new variation - "Don't ask - don't
know" - which will enable the Church of England to continue to evade the
in inconvenience of having to face up the fact the there are gay Christians,
gay Clergy, even gay Bishops - many of whom are in fulfilled loving same-sex
relationships.